beam

\biːm\

/\biːm\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“beam” is uncommon French (frequency #54,426 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,426
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Poutre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-beam · beam · French

beam · rank #54,426 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,426
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH Batum

Nearest frequency peer: Batum (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « beam »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « beam » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for beam
PropertyValue
Headwordbeam
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\biːm\
Letters4
Frequency rank#54,426
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « beam » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).beamtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Batum » (#54,425), « belga » (#54,427), « barnum » (#54,424). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « beam » est au #54,426. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

beam is uncommon French at frequency #54,426 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \biːm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Poutre.".

No misspelling variants are generated for beam in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is beam, spelled B-E-A-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Poutre.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "beam"?
"beam" is spelled B-E-A-M. The IPA pronunciation is \biːm\.
What does "beam" mean?
As a noun, "beam" means: Poutre.
How do you pronounce "beam"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "beam" is \biːm\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "beam" come from?
"beam" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "beam", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

boyz#54,440buff#54,447anja#54,396dass#54,518

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list